January 16, 2024 — Last week’s back-to-back storms inflicted some of their worst damage on Maine’s fishing industry, and the extent of the devastation has some fishing communities considering how to be more prepared for it next time.
Working waterfront property owners along the entire Maine coast witnessed destruction as extreme winds and storm surge flooded buildings, set some adrift and tore docks apart. Some already are planning to rebuild — with sturdier and maybe higher piers in mind as they consider the future — but it’s too early to tell how long it will take and how much it might cost.
Commercial lobster docks where fishermen offload and sell their catch were damaged in Milbridge, Corea, Southwest Harbor, Stonington and New Harbor, to name a few places.
“A lot of docks and wharves took a real beating,” said Jeff Nichols, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Nichols and Commissioner Patrick Keliher flew over affected areas in Maine Forest Service helicopters to assess the damage. In New Harbor, part of the town of Bristol, six docks were destroyed in the Jan. 10 storm.
“We saw damage in practically every harbor,” Nichols said.
John Williams, a longtime lobsterman in Stonington, said the dock where he ties up his boat on Atlantic Avenue suffered little damage in the two storms, but his father’s property didn’t fare so well. Robert Williams, also a local lobsterman, owns a granite pier on Burnt Cove on Whitman Road. The storm surge flooded the pier and damaged everything on it.
“He lost three buildings,” the younger Williams said. “The surge kept coming in, two to three feet at a time. The surge is what did the damage.”